The greatest evil is not done in those sordid dens of evil that Dickens loved to paint but is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clear, carpeted, warmed, well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices.

But now if the quote was repeated by Ronald Reagan — with a little Screwtape thrown in as a bonus — now that is something to be savored. It might surprise you to know that it came in one of Reagan’s most famous speeches. His Evil Empire address to the National Association of Evangelicals on March 8, 1983. The part of the speech in the which the quote is incorporated, begins towards the end of his talk at the 27:25 mark.